Fortnite: Battle Royale has a new champion with Bugha. The 16-year-old winner of the solo world championship has gained not only 3 million in prize money but also followers on YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter. However, he will have to pay a significant amount to the tax office.
What has Bugha won? The just 16-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf from the USA won the solo finals of the Fortnite World Championship with an absurd lead over the weekend. The boy can now primarily look forward to 3 million US dollars in prize money.
But almost more valuable is the publicity he received through his performance in the tournament. His followers in streaming and social media have developed as follows since July 15:
- Twitch: 58,000 to over 204,000 followers
- YouTube: 34,000 to over 372,000 followers
- Twitter: 20,000 to over 291,000 followers
Is that a lot? With these numbers, Bugha still cannot compare himself with streaming stars like Ninja (over 14 million Twitch followers) or Tfue (over 6 million followers on Twitch).
Nevertheless, his newly gained viewers are a good start, and it certainly won’t be long before Bugha is offered some juicy sponsorship deals.
Then his new fame on Twitch and others could prove to be more valuable than the 3 million dollars in prize money.
Taxes take a large part of the prize money
What can Bugha actually keep from his winnings? 3 million US dollars is an enormous prize, but it doesn’t come without a cost. Like all citizens, Bugha has to pay taxes. This starts with the fact that the city of New York, where the tournament took place, demands a tax on winnings of 8.82 percent.
That’s $264,600 that will already go away. Overall, New York is probably quite happy about the many prize funds from the Fortnite World Cup right now.
But that’s not all; according to a calculation by Dexerto, Bugha with his 3 million probably falls under the US top tax rate and has to pay another 39.4% in taxes. That’s another $1,182,000.
In total, about $1,446,600 in taxes will probably be due, which is almost half of the total winnings. But if Bugha doesn’t plan to squander everything, the remaining dollars should still be enough to lead a carefree life for the time being.
